Archive for February, 2010

SAN FRANCISCO – The city’s incoming police chief was shocked to see open drug dealing. Sacramento’s visiting mayor visiting mayor had his luggage swiped from outside a swank hotel. Residents and storekeepers have been complaining about overbearing transients blocking pedestrians and panhandling with their pit bulls. We are known for having a high level of tolerance, but … the line has to be drawn somewhere. Full Article

EGELSTON TOWNSHIP, Michigan – An anonymous buyer has purchased a western Michigan pedestrian bridge for $1. The buyer said the bridge is headed to a private residence in Alma, about 80 miles east of Muskegon. The buyer plans to use the bridge to provide access to an island in a private pond. Full Article

Florida – Two Escambia County men face charges of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon in an incident that ended with three newspaper carriers running from gunfire. Jerry J. Stefani, 49, was charged with three counts of felony aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. Stefani’s neighbor, Douglas Weinberg, 39, faces the same charges. Full Article

UK – The Ministry of Defence will destroy all future UFO reports it receives so it does not have to make them public. Britain’s official UFO investigation unit and hotline were closed down at the start of December. Since then reports of strange sights in the skies sent to the MoD have been kept for 30 days before being thrown out. Full Article

New York – David Stewart, a commodities trader in New York, was stunned to learn last week that he would have to pay $80 for an aisle seat he wanted on a Virgin Atlantic flight to London. But ahead of and behind him, an entire section of aisle seats sat empty, apparently because other passengers declined to pay for them. Full Article

PHILADELPHIA – Philadelphia police say a pair of thieves made off with some expensive jewelry but left behind a 4-year-old boy. Police say a man and woman entered the Platinum and Ice Jewelry store with the child. They asked to see some rings and then grabbed a tray of items valued at more than $100,000 and ran out. Full Article

Korea – Nothing highlights a social awareness message like a giant Toilet-shaped House. That was the aim of Sim Jae-Duck, a member of the World Toilet Association, when he commissioned the construction of his new home, a gargantuan concrete and glass home that resembled a toilet. Full Article

Washington DC – House Speaker Nancy Pelosi urged her colleagues to back a major overhaul of U.S. health care even if it threatens their political careers, a call to arms that underscores the issue’s massive role in this election year. Lawmakers sometimes must enact policies even if unpopular. Full Article

UK – Serial killers at Broadmoor Hospital are to be given iPods, it has been revealed. The devices, at taxpayers’ expense, will replace CDs and DVDs, which patients have been breaking to use as weapons against each ­other and staff. Full Article

UK – Dozens of frozen brains kept for research melted after a freezer broke down. The organs were preserved at -80C to help scientists understand conditions including mad cow disease, Parkinson’s disease and Alzheimer’s. Many of the donated brains were covered in dust, with some specimens lying open with spiders crawling over them. Full Article

UK – News that a rare black woodpecker – never seen this side of the North Sea – had been sighted in the Lake District nearly sparked an invasion of birdwatchers. United Utilities has been putting decoy black woodpeckers on electricity poles to stop the native great spotted woodpeckers from damaging them. Full Article

OTTAWA, Canada – An Air Canada spokeswoman said an airplane was taken out of service and 205 passengers left the aircraft at the gate after a rat was found on board. The deplaning of passengers from what would have been Air Canada Flight AC888 came after the rodent was spotted in one of the aircraft’s overhead lockers. Full Article

Afghanistan – Up to 20 are thought to have died planting Improvised Explosive Devices. They were racing to plant the IEDs before the Allied offensive Operation Moshtarak. The triggers on the IEDs have become so sensitive the terrorists are accidentally detonating them as they hide them. Full Article

BRIDGETON – A city man reportedly called 9-1-1 from the back of a state police cruiser to say he had been kidnapped by the cops. The man was being given a ride by troopers from the Bridgeton barracks to a relative’s house after police found him intoxicated while investigating a disorderly persons call. Full Article

California – A woman angry with her boyfriend flung his puppy into a busy Hawthorne street, where the animal landed atop a passing car and died after rolling under it. The girlfriend lashed out at the dog because she was upset that the boyfriend had told her to stay behind with the puppy while the rest of the family was going to pick up his 12-year-old twin sisters from school. Full Article